Activity level

A low score is not laziness. Low scorers get things done at their own pace and often with more care; the facet measures how fast and how full a person likes their days, not how much they achieve.

A high score is not fitness or physical activity. The items ask about being busy and on the go, which can mean a packed diary as easily as a long run.

Four items make a short scale. A facet score moves more between attempts than the 24-item domain score, and it describes a tendency in ordinary life as the person reports it, not a diagnosis of anything.

High. People high on this facet say they are always busy, always on the go and do a lot in their spare time. In daily life that shows as walking fast, talking fast, a diary with no gaps, several projects at once, and restlessness on a quiet afternoon. Others find them energising or exhausting, depending on the day.

Low. People low on this facet say they like to take it easy and do not need to fill every hour. In daily life that shows as an unhurried pace, one thing at a time, long evenings doing nothing in particular, and an unforced calm that busier people envy.

• Extraversion: the broad trait this facet belongs to, with five sibling facets.

Activity level and excitement-seeking are the two facets of extraversion that fall most clearly with age, in a longitudinal study of adults. (Terracciano and others, 2005)

Activity level groups with assertiveness into the agentic aspect of extraversion, rather than with warmth and sociability. (DeYoung, Quilty and Peterson, 2007)

Facets of the same domain can show different age patterns: in a large sample, age differences within extraversion were not uniform across its facets. (Mõttus and others, 2015)

• Friendliness
• Gregariousness
• Assertiveness
• Excitement-seeking
• Cheerfulness